Dot HackDIABLO
by TehCollaborators
Summary: The work of a talented hacker unleashes a grave threat onto the servers of Battle.net, and the only ones capable of stopping him are those who are affected most...
1. Prolouge: Where Twilight Falls

Dot HackDIABLO

Co-Written by Riptide and Cyte

Prologue: Twilight Rising

_Deep in the night  
__Far off the light_

His fingers flew across the keyboard, only a muted flickering light from the screen evidence of the new existence coming forth. Lines of code raced across the interface in a continuous stream, trying desperately to keep up with the user's phenomenal typing rate. In fact, the stream of binary continued across the screen even after his fingers were withdrawn from the keys and placed upon his temples.

_Missing my headache  
__Sweeter delight  
__Kissing my love ache_

For anyone else in the room, the aura of exhaustion may have been too overpowering for anyone else to remain conscious. After spending over seventy-two hours writing and debugging what must have been millions of lines of code, breaking through firewall and protocols alike, it seemed like every sector of his mind was about to shatter, his reserves drawn to their last. But still, he continued, even as dawn hinted at its existence through the heavy drapes of his office.

His work was nearly done.

He blinked in surprise when a soft beep permeated through the room. Looking up, he was mildly surprised to see that the processor had finally caught up with his rapid typing and had finalized the completed program. After whining for a few seconds, a command prompt appeared on his monitor.

Program: Twilight Complete

Execute?

Y/N

_How come I must know  
__where obsession needs to go?  
__How come I must know  
where the passion hides its feelings?_

For one instant, a trickle of hesitancy came up in his tired mind. He didn't really have to do this now. He could go to sleep, get some food and a bath, and then give this course of action some more consideration. However that thought was very fleeting, and with no further fanfare he pressed the Y key and enter in rapid succession, closing his eyes and smiling softly as the computer again started whining, the monumental stream of data bursting forth into cyberspace. Finally allowing his head to rest on the desk's surface, he allowed only a few words to escape his lips before blessed unconsciousness took him away.

"Let the games begin…"

_How come I must know  
__where obsession needs to go?  
How come I must know  
__the direction of relieving?_


	2. Chapter One: Incident

Chapter One: Incident

"Geez, you still haven't logged in, Sean?"

Sean groaned; he knew he should have checked his caller ID before picking up. "Calm down, David, I've been trying to get this stuff installed. Had to clear about half my video files just to make room."

"So you lost your collection of last decades music videos. Big loss."

"Stuff it David. So, what am I calling the game again?"

"You're already on?! What's your account name?"

"I told you what it was going to be at school today, Rookie44."

"…ok, I see you on my list now. Just call the game rookie, same password. Did you pick a character class?"

"Yeah, I was looking at some FAQs last night while I was chatting with Allison. Oh, by the way, she told me that she won't be on tonight. Something to do with her taekwondo class came up, a demo or something."

"Eh, that sucks. She told me her class the other day, and I had pulled together all this stuff together for her. So what did you decide on, anyway?"

"A throwing barbarian. It looked different enough to be interesting." Sean grinned slightly. "You know me."

David chuckled softly. "Just can't lower yourself to a cookie-cutter build, can you?"

"Not a chance." Sean responded before lowering his VR goggles over his head. "The games up, so let's finish this conversation online. My phone bills high enough anyway."

* * *

Jagger threw another blade into the crowd of squat demons before swinging his axe at one of the boldest of the attackers, easily striking it to the ground. The remaining fallen scattered, opening a path to a pair of shamans along the back wall. Jagger hurled another knife at the nearest one, but an unsuspected resurrection of one of its minions to take the blow spared it the blade. Jagger was able to sidestep the fireball that followed, but the other fallen and regrouped and were charging again. The barbarian groaned and wearily set himself for a second round of fighting.

Suddenly a golden ethereal blur flashed across his field of vision, leaving behind a neat pile of fallen's corpses, The second time it flew by, cutting the shaman down, Jagger was able to discern the blur's identity: a hammer.

"In a hurry, Sean? Most people clear out some of the moor before hitting the Den of Evil. Nice name by the way."

"The barbarian grinned before turning around. "Good timing, buddy. I'm not used to the things I kill not staying dead." He blinked a couple of times that the paladin's gleaming armor, massive shield and wicked scepter encrusted with jewels and gems. "Wow, when do I get that stuff?"

The paladin laughed quietly. "Good things come to those who wait, 'Jagger'. So, you going to accept my invite or just stare at it all day?"

So that's what that blinking light on my display is telling me? Wish I'd known sooner." Jagger accepted the invite immediately. "Dendraz? Where did that name come from?"

"Heh, ask Alli sometime. Anyways, you said you were making a thrower, so I brought you a few presents." Dendraz's character froze for a moment, then dropped two sets of throwing knifes, some leather armor, and a skullcap. After a few more seconds, a strange hand sword of some kind and a shield. "That's for Alli, and the rest of it is for you. You mind giving that to her?"

"Sure, no problem." Jagger responded, studying the knives in his inventory window. "All of these are rares? Thanks man."

"No worries. Now, let's get the rest of this dungeon cleared out."

Jagger jumped back to avoid another swipe from Corpsefire and flung a final knife into the zombie's chest. The monster fell back to the earth; it's torso and legs separating somewhat messily as it impacted, dropping an amulet and a jawbone helm.

"Well, that one went by quickly, eh Dendraz?" When there was no response to his comment, he turned to his friend to see a strange expression plastered on his face. Jagger followed his friend's line of sight to the remains of the unique monster Corpsefire.

The body was moving.

"So this one resurrects too?" Jagger asked. Another look at Dendraz showed very clearly that it shouldn't, so he prepped his throwing knifes and got ready to attack. "Well, we killed him once. Shouldn't be too hard to repeat."

Suddenly, the corpse burst apart, temporarily obscuring his vision with gore. It slowly faded to reveal a monstrous pale beast; it's surprisingly small eyes staring at the young barbarian over mandibles longer than Dendraz's scepter. The paladin immediately raced forward, hammers spiraling off of his body. "Jagger, run!" he shouted, blocking a strike with his shield. "This one's too strong!"

"So why would it be here?" Jagger argued, throwing a blade through the air. It hit home directly between the beast's eyes, but instead of felling it, this seemed to only enrage the monster, and it charged at Jagger, knocking Dendraz to the side. Jagger jumped back, barely dodging a viscous slash. The beast stepped forward to renew it attack only to be struck again by Dendraz's hammers. Even those didn't do any visible damage, but it pulled its attention away from Jagger. When he heard Dendraz tell him to log out again, he didn't hesitate.

* * *

Dendraz ducked and weaved around strike after strike, trying to open up enough space to run for it himself. Finally creating enough of a gap to dart through, Dendraz burst past the hideous creature and fled down the tunnel, all the time wondering how this monster had appeared within the Den of Evil.

Unfortunately Dendraz wouldn't be greatly delayed in his arrival on an answer. Just as he reached the exit to the den, the air before him began to shimmer, quite similar to a town portal spell, but translucent. He stepped back cautiously, trying to deduce the meaning of this phenomenon when the beast from before lunged out of the rippling portal and drove it's claws into his chest. His health dropped to zero instantly and he fell.

In the real world, David began to swear at the death of his character, but he was interrupted by a sudden paralysis throughout his body. He shook once, then his eyes closed and the boy fell to the floor, VR goggles popping from his head. Upon the screen of the goggles, a single line of text dominated the screen.

**Dendraz was slain by Lister the Tormentor.**


	3. Chapter Two: Descent

Riptide: Well, after a long sabbatical…

Cyte: Sabbatical my ass! You were lazy!

Riptide: Ehem, er, well, we return triumphant with a new chapter!

Cyte: (Looks at review counter.) You have a loose definition of triumphant, don't you?

Riptide: (Listens to crickets chirping in the background.) Damn, it has been a bit, hasn't it? Mucho thanks to all the people (3) who read this and said it wasn't complete crap. Unfortunately, various things interfered with this posting (I.E. school, track practice, BPA competition and prep, mid-terms, and a renewed addiction to this story's namesake, to name a few.) Now that things have settled down a bit, I bring you this chapter and pass the buck to my cohort, Cyte, who has far less to do with his time than me.

If only we can drag him away from Diablo II long enough to type…

Cyte: Just one more Meph run, I promise…

Riptide: …So, with no further ado, Teh Collaborators present…

Dot Hack Diablo

Written By Riptide and Cyte

Chapter Two:Descent

**RiptideZero (TehFemmeFatale) has joined the game. Diablo's minions grow stronger.**

Jagger hurled another dagger at Corpsefire, dropping the zombie for what must have been the umpteenth time that hour. He had just gotten back from David's house, and now the events of the night before seemed even stranger than they were before. He suspected that the answers might lie inside the very cave he had just conquered, but so far his search had been fruitless. Then the sound of quiet footsteps caught his attention, and he turned to see another player, apparently an assassin, turn the corner behind him. It was his immediate notion to go ahead and leave for the next game, but remembering what Den-David had told him about online etiquette, so he figuratively sat back while waiting on his guest to speak.

The mage-killer walked up to Jagger and cocked her head to the side. "Jeez, you clear an area fast, Sean. You could have at least left me a couple zombies to deal with."

Jagger's muscles clenched in both worlds. "How do you know my…" he quickly assessed the assassin's demeanor: right hand casually slung onto her hip; confident, mocking smile; hair different from the default model, slightly longer but tied back into a ponytail. It was the hairstyle that seemed faintly familiar…

"Allison?" Jagger breathed a sigh of relief. "For a second there I thought you were…never mind."

Allison, otherwise known as RiptideZero, furrowed her brow for a moment at some sub-tone in his voice, but overlooked it and continued her inspection of his character. "Well, well. It seems that somebody's been power-leveling. You're at level six, but you haven't gone any further than the Blood Moor, have you?" When he nodded to the affirmative, she laughed. "I'm impressed, but what do you say we move on? With your level, we could probably take on Blood Raven easy." She sent him a party invite, which he quickly accepted.

"…Allison, is it cool if I do one more Den run? I'm just about to level, and there something else I'm trying to do."

The assassin looked curious. "Why here? Den runs aren't any good for items or experience." She hesitated, and then continued. "And by the way, we should probably start using our character names while we're playing. Don't want to have any Internet stalkers."

Jagger's expression hardened. "I want to know what happened to David here last night. I think the answers are here, but I can't get the event to trigger again. It must be that event that…put David out of commission."

Riptide's eyebrows quirked again. "What do you mean, did his character drop? David should have been able to log right back in."

Jagger looked at her in confusion. "What are you saying? Did you mother tell you last night? I called her as soon as it happened." When Riptide shook her head, he looked away, a heaviness settling back on his shoulders. "I guess I see why she didn't say anything; it must have been tougher on her then I thought it would be." Jagger's massive bulk settled down to the cave floor, prompting Riptide to do the same.

"Jagger, stop cutting corners, what's going on?"

"Alli, David's in Memorial Hospital. He's been in a coma for nearly twenty-four hours now."

Riptide waited, as if expecting him to add 'Just kidding!' after a beat. But when Jagger said nothing else and began to walk out of the cave, she exploded.

"David's in the hospital, maybe dying because of this game, and you're back here _playing_! What the hell are you thinking?!"

"Because nobody believed me, damnit!" he roared in return, causing Riptide to leap back in shock. Calming himself, he continued. "After David told me to leave the game, I called his house to find out if he had been able to beat that monster. No one answered the phone. I called his cell phone; he practically sleeps with the thing. No answer there either. I logged back in and sent him a message on D-mail. Nothing! So I jumped up and ran to his house, four miles at a full run." Jagger paused here; his entire body overcome with tremors. "Do you know what I found? David, sprawled across his office floor, his computer still running and everything. He was lying in the same position as his corpse on the screen."

Riptide gasped, then took a tentative step forward to put a hand on his shoulder. "Sean…"

"You know what the doctors and the police did when I told them all this? They _laughed_. Said not to get my little games mixed up with real life. Real kind of them, huh?"

There was no response from Riptide's avatar for several moments, and for an instant Jagger thought that she had thrown down her controller and left in disgust without even bothering to leave the game. He was just about to move on when Riptide spoke up.

"You said that Corpsefire was the last thing you killed when it happened."

Jagger blinked. "Yeah, that's right."

"Well, you weren't alone when it happened. David was with you. Make another game and I'll go through it with you, in case it takes two people to trigger the event."

"But if it happens again…" Jagger began to protest, not wanting to directly insult his headstrong companion. However, he greatly underestimated Riptide's ability to read between the lines.

"Ok, now I have to go, because otherwise you'll go and try to fight whatever it was that put David in the hospital. And then you'll be right next to him. Let's not go through that twice, okay?"

Jagger's pride took a fair hit at that, mainly because she was probably right. "So, what's your plan, then?"

"Take a screenshot?" she suggested innocently. Jagger's pride threw in the towel.

"Alright. The next game is rookie14, password rookie."

"You've done this fourteen times and gotten nothing?"

"Well, there were these…" Jagger offered, and suddenly a small heap of rares appeared on the ground. "There were more, but I had to sell some of them to make room for the rest. And there were some things Den-David said to give to you."

At the moment, Riptide was appraising the strange weapon David had left for her. She nodded in approval and equipped it along with some leather armor and boots. Looking back at him, Riptide fired of a confident grin. "So, you ready?"

Jagger pumped a fist in the air. "Alright, let's go!"

* * *

Unbeknownst to the fresh alliance, a third person had entered the game and quietly observed the entire incident. No message had heralded his arrival, and no listing for him appeared in the party screen. He walked around the corner just as Jagger and Riptide disappeared from the world, his gaunt, skeletal features highlighted with a strange but subtle glee. 

"Well," the figure muttered, "the game just got much more interesting."

"After all, what is Lord Kite without his Lady Blackrose?"

* * *

Riptide effortlessly ducked under a swipe from Corpsefire and with a near air of boredom stabbed her wrist blade into its gut, felling the zombie with a full Tiger Strike. "Hmm, level up." She commented dryly before going silent to allocate her skill and stat points. Meanwhile, Jagger sat against a rock, shaking his head. "That's six more runs, and nothing happens. There has to be some easier way to go about this!" 

Suddenly a new voice came up from behind the pair of adventurers, both leaping into defensive stances before realizing it was simply another player and not a missed monster. Something very close to alarm was ringing in Jagger's ears, but he hesitated to speak until he had pinpointed the cause. Riptide, having recovered from her surprise, lowered her blade and began to step forward past Jagger to greet the new arrival.

"Sorry, you startled us there. Hold on just a second, I'll send an invite."

"Rip, wait." Jagger ordered with an urgency that surprised the assassin. "How did you get into this game?

The figure casually stepped forward, revealing his class to be a necromancer. Ignoring Jagger's demand, he instead focused on the fallen unique before him. "You know," the necromancer stated sardonically, "you should be more careful what you wish for." One eye turned up to meet Jagger's with an eerie sort of glee. "You never know who might be the one to deliver it to you."

"Hold on a sec." Riptide murmured shakily, stepping cautiously back to Jagger's position. Her grip on her weapon tightened. "That guy, his level shows up on the menu as double x! He must be a serious hacker!" Jagger grimaced at the implications of this. If the player before them was skilled enough to alter the game code in such a fashion, little sanctions like the level restriction on player killing would be nothing. And with both of them being under level nine, they would have no way to fight back.

The hacker seemed to read some of this in Jagger's face, as he smiled wickedly and made a dismissive gesture. "Don't worry, a direct attack on the two of you wouldn't be even mildly interesting. Too quick. However…" Materializing a wand from nowhere, he jabbed at Corpsefire's body, immediately reviving the zombie. "I believe that Lister would be too great a challenge for you as of now, and again the battle wouldn't be long enough for any sort of amusement. This one, on the other hand, should be more than enough to keep you…amused. Fare thee well." With those parting words, the necromancer walked from the room, quickly followed by a familiar line of text.

**#y&# (****w0110##!Dr$0****) has left the world. Diablo's minions weaken.**

"So, we just have to stomp that ugly thing again? Fine!" Riptide snapped before lunging forward and slamming into Corpsefire with a series of vicious claw attack. She then jumped back, hesitated, and then attacked again, building up a tiger strike before striking. Jagger's eyes widened in shock as Riptide jumped back again, her weapons hanging loosely beside her. "What…what is this?" she gasped, a mingling of fear and confusion shining on her features.

"Jagger, I can't deal it any damage! It's like it's health is infinite…it won't die!"

"…No…not again…."

End Chapter Two


	4. Chapter Three: Twilight Ring

Cyte: (Walks up, eyes bloodshot from lack of sleep) Greetings readers. I now bring you the third chapter of our little story. You can all thank me for updating so soon later. (Unceremoniously falls asleep in the middle of his speech)

Riptide: Don't mind him. He is recovering from a weekend of really bad Meph runs.

Cyte: (In a fit of anger as he sleeps) No…no! CATHANS MESH!

Riptide: Ahem, yeah…well I'm going to see if I can help him. While I do why don't you enjoy…

Chapter Three: Twilight Ring

Riptide glanced around the corner to search for an escape path. She and Jagger had both quickly decided that fighting the bugged unique would prove useless, if not dangerous. Riptide silently thanked her self for staying with Jagger to clear the Den. A full pack of Fallen around the wrong corner would spell doom for both warriors.

Both continued running, Corpsefire hot on their heels. Suddenly in the middle of their mad dash to the exit, Riptide stopped.

Jagger turned to look at his friend. He was confused as to why she had stopped running.

"What are you doing?"

Riptide had stopped long enough for her logic to catch up with her. She turned to Jagger and replied "Why don't we just log out?"

Jagger's response was almost automatic.

"That thing might have the answers we're looking for!"

Riptide shrank back at Jagger's outburst. She more than understood how he felt. "Look…you're right, but lets log out…answers aren't any good to us if Corpsefire catches up to us."

Jagger nodded. He knew she was right. "Okay, go ahead and log off. I'll make sure he doesn't blind side us."

Riptide nodded and her graphic froze as she accessed the menu. After a few seconds she asked in an unsteady voice "Jagger what's the password?"

"Password?" Jagger questioned back to her.

"Yeah…there is a prompt asking for an exit password…"

What had started as a tiny worm of suspicion in Jagger's mind was now a confirmed fear. "That damn hacker set this up!"

A guttural moan caught both of the players' attention. Corpsefire now stood at the end of the tunnel they were in. The two ducked back behind the previous corner but didn't get far before they found themselves at a dead end.

Riptide gaped in horror at the wall of rock, dirt, and granite in front of them. She turned as another low moan echoed through out the Den.

Corpsefire was coming.

"You know," Riptide said ", if I wasn't so intimately involved in this situation I'd this was just some horrible plot device."

Jagger looked at her incredulously. "Where did that come- never mind." He sighed looking down the tunnel towards Corpsefire. "Now what?"

"We wait from a voice from above?"

"Under normal circumstances I'd find that funny, but-" Jagger said but was suddenly cut off.

**Omniscience whispers to you: Both of you! Stay alive for just a little while longer. I'm making a debug of that thing. I just need more time.**

Both players stared at each other for a moment.

"Should we trust them?" Riptide asked softly.

"Might as well since we don't have any other options." Jagger replied as he tightened his grip on his weapons. "So, how do we stall for time?"

Riptide smirked. "I didn't bring any cards…" she mused, crouching slightly. "But I suppose this old trick will do." The assassin lunged forward, her body moving in one fluid motion that ended with her foot colliding into the zombie's chest.

This blow, while doing no damage, knocked Corpsefire back into the wall. The bugged monster looked up and cocked its head to the side. This motion produced a sickening crunching sound. With its head back in place the monster moved forward once more.

Corpsefire didn't cover but two feet before Riptide got two more quick attacks in. She raked each of her long blades over the monsters chest in rapid succession. "A little help, Jagger?"

Jagger finally noticed that she had been forcing the zombie out of their tunnel so they could escape to more open area. He readied his throwing knives and let out a powerful Shout. He didn't know how much the defense increase would help, but he always had believed in "every little bit helps".

Blades flew through the air and sank into the monsters already battle scarred chest. Jagger moved forward, only stopping his assault periodically to gain more ground.

Between Riptide's slashes and kicks and Jagger's blades, Corpsefire was forced back out of the tunnel. Both tired fighters rushed into the larger area of the den. Though they had been successful in escaping, they were both very tired and low on health and mana.

Riptide downed a small bottle of blue liquid. "That was my last mana potion." She said grimly. The fierce battle was taking its toll on her in real life. "Any time now!"

As if on cue, a throwing dagger appeared on the ground. Jagger picked it up. It was appropriately labeled as "Debugger". He swapped this out for his usual dagger and tried to draw a bead on the zombie. This usually simple task was proving difficult as Riptide was ducking in and out of Corpsefire's reach as she landed a few more blows.

"Rip, duck!"

Riptide did so without any question as to why and looked up just in time to see another dagger whiz through the air and embed itself into the monster's shoulder. As soon as the blade pierced the zombie's flesh, it quit moving, its graphic frozen.

Riptide got up and backed away. She looked quizzically at Corpsefire. Just as she was going to ask Jagger if they wee lagging, a long, yellow burst of energy erupted from the monster's chest. As it whizzed over head Riptide saw it was actually a line of code. Several more of these data streams burst forth from the bugged monster until finally it began to move again.

**Omniscience whispers to you: There, you should be able to kill it now!**

At that moment Riptide became aware of the three white orbs circling her body. She let out a yell as she launched a kick at Corpsefire. As her foot hit its target, Corpsefire let out a moan and fell to the floor.

"It…it's dead," she said tiredly. A sardonic smile overtook her face as she slumped against a wall. "Any good drops ; I'm too tired to look."

Jagger shrugged and looked down where the dead monster's remains were. There was a magical amulet and mana pot. Riptide eagerly accepted the second of the two items.

Jagger tossed the useless amulet down and looked once more to see if he missed anything. A glint of light caught his attention. He was stunned as he picked the item up. It was a unique ring. He quickly pulled an ID scroll from his inventory to see what ring it was. After a brief pause for the identification process to finish, a look of confusion fell on Jagger's face.

The ring in question had no modifiers, no charges, no bonuses, no level requirement, no nothing.

It only had a name that was written in the golden letters that signified a unique item. The ring was simply titled "Ring of the Twilight".


End file.
